Posts Tagged “Trever Miller”

After sending three lefties to pitch in the Arizona Fall League and having not a one of them really distinguish them self, the Cardinals inked a couple of lefties. Bernie says Trever Miller has been signed to be the new left-handed specialist, and 30 year old Ian Ostlund (formerly of the Tigers organization) was signed to a minor league contract and invited to spring training.

Miller is an upgrade over Ron Villone, but if LaRussa mismanages him in the same horrendous fashion he did Villone then it’s not much of an upgrade. If I recall correctly, Villone faced way too many RHB.

As for Ostlund, I couldn’t find much on him as far as a scouting report. He was a 34th round senior sign out of Virginia Tech. This article says he can throw up to 90-91 but usually sits at 88. This article has his manager politely saying his breaking ball needs work. He’s put up fantastic numbers, but my goodness, he didn’t make it to AAA until he was 28. Granted, he had Tommy John surgery, but still. While at AAA, he posted a nifty 2.94 FIP with lots of swinging strikeouts and a 4.5 K/BB ratio. So you would think the guy would’ve had a cup of coffee in the bigs by now. Well, one blemish would be his extreme fly ball rate-35.1%. The other blemish would be a 1.44 WHIP against lefties.

If I were to guess, his scouting report probably says something to the effect of “Crummy stuff, outsmarting less experienced players.” It’s possible he could the make team out of spring training and not embarrass himself, but so could several F.A.T. LOOGYs. For a minor league invite, he’s worth a shot. Charlie Manning, Fiske and now this guy look to duke it out for the final roster spot so TLR can have his precious two lefty relievers. Make the Manning name proud, Charlie.

Arizona

• Brett Wallace went 2-for-3, including his 6th homer, and he was intentionally walked. Koo koo ka choo.
• Shane Robinson went 1-for-3 with a sac fly.
• Tyler Greene went 1-for-4.
• Adam Ottavino struck out 4 in 2 innings, but allowed 3 runs on 4 hits (including a HR), 2 walks, and a hit by pitch. He face three batters in the 3rd inning, unable to get anyone out. It’s been a roller coaster of a year for the Ott, with more downs than ups.
• Justin Fiske faced just two batters and allowed two runs on a hit and a walk.
• Brad Furnish threw a scoreless 9th. No K’s, 1 BB, 1 H.

PR

• Bryan Anderson went 0-for-1 as a pinch-hitter. He’s hitting just .188 so far.

DR

• Amaury Marti doubled and homered in 4 AB. When Amaury comes to bat, all the fielders take off their gloves and replace them with mitts made of Kevlar.